Kitāb Nashr al-Anfās fī Faḍāʾil Zamzam wa Siqāyat al-ʿAbbās

Summary

This book is a historical account of the well of Zamzam, the Ḥaram and Makkah al-Mukarramah during the Ottoman period. It contains many pieces of information related to the construction of the well of Zamzam and its restoration throughout the ages. It also describes the benefits of the water and its characteristics as well as details on the juridical rulings associated with it in terms of its consumption and use in treatment. Among the rules looked at, it discusses the one governing the transport of Zamzam water outside the city of Makkah and its use in purification for prayer. These rules were drawn from the sayings of the Imams of the four madhhabs (schools of thought) and their fatwās (legal opinions).
This book is considered one of the most important on the topic of the status of several locations in the Makkan holy shrine. It is also a book of history (as it looks at the historic aspect of Makkah), a book of politics and economics (as it considers aspects of politics and economics in Makkah), a book of fiqh (as it examines aspects of the rules governing the water of Zamzam) and a book on civilisation (as it talks of the building and planning of the Makkan holy shrine, its expansion and especially the building of the Kaʿbah in that period).